Gardaí confirm a 20% increase in domestic violence reports in Cork this year

Chief Superintendent Tom Myers said gardaí and members of the specialist protective services unit are working very closely with the victims who have reported the incidents, and on making “call backs” - follow-up or check-in phone calls or visits. File photo

There has been a 20% increase in reported incidents of domestic violence in Cork city so far this year compared to the same period last year.

And a fifth of all reported incidents of assault causing harm in the Cork city garda division since January occurred in a domestic violent situation, new figures show.

Chief Superintendent Tom Myers told a meeting of the Cork City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) that gardaí have recorded 638 reported incidents of domestic abuse in the first five months of this year compared to 511 for the same period last year - most of which was spent in lockdown.

He said gardaí and members of the specialist protective services unit are working very closely with the victims who have reported the incidents, and on making “call backs” - follow-up or check-in phone calls or visits.

“I want to reassure people, especially the people who are making complaints about domestic abuse, that gardaí are working on this issue,” he said.

“We are trying to encourage as many people as possible to go before the courts and get domestic abuse orders, and if so, a lot of cases are prosecuted as soon as possible.” 

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The figures come in the context of a 62% increase in ‘crimes against the person’ since the start of the year, compared to the same period last year. The category includes murder, threats of murder, assaults, harassment, stalking, threats, menacing phone calls, cruelty or neglect of a child.

Chief Supt Myers stressed that because Ireland was in lockdown for a significant period of early last year, crime figures fell as a result, and so some increase was expected this year. Graphs presented to the JPC showed that crime rates in many categories are returning to pre-Covid levels.

Assaults

But he focused on two specific categories - assaults causing harm, which usually involves a breaking of the skin or an injury which requires stitches, and minor assaults.

He said there has been a 95% increase in the number of reported incidents of assault causing harm, with 129 since January compared to 66 for the same period last year, and there has been a 61% increase in the number of reported incidents of minor assault, up from 250 last year to 403 so far this year.

Further analysis of those assault figures shows that 21% of all the assault causing harm cases occurred in a violent domestic situation, or behind closed doors, with almost a quarter of all minor assaults (23%) occurring in a violent domestic situation.

Cuanlee refuge

Mary Cullinane, acting manager of the city’s Cuanlee refuge, said there is huge demand for their services post-Covid.

She said Tusla funding helped them double capacity, from six family units to 12, which are nearly always occupied. But they also have an outreach service, and an arrangement with AirBnB to secure alternative accommodation.

“The main message here is to encourage people to pick up the phone to seek help,” she said. Contact Cuanlee at [e-mail] or on their 24-hour helpline on 021-4277698.